Position Title
Professor of Design, emerita
- Design
Expertise: surface design, textile art, textile design, fashion design, history of fashion.
Background
Susan T. Avila is an artist and designer who uses textiles to enhance perception of contemporary culture. She focuses on repurposing waste from the garment industry into new textile structures and combines traditional hand crafts with technology. She has exhibited her textiles, bridging art, design, and fashion, on six continents including numerous exhibitions in North America. Her creative work is included in several books and periodicals including Textiles. The Art of Mankind and all three volumes of Artistry in Fiber (she also wrote the foreword to the volume on Wearable Art). She has written articles about Textile Art and/or Fashion for several publications including Fiberarts, Ornament, Selvage, Surface Design Journal, and Textil Forum and has presented her work at numerous conferences. She was a Chutian and Sunshine Scholar at Wuhan Textile University in Wuhan, China 2009-2015 and a recipient of a 2010 Center for Cultural Innovation “Investing in Artists” Grant. Additionally, her curatorial experience includes several exhibitions for FiberScene.com (1999-2010) and the UC Davis Design Museum and she has juried several international exhibitions including Art al Vent (Spain); Innovations in Fiber Art VI (USA); From Lausanne to Beijing (China); and World Textile Art (USA).
Publications and Work
Work can be seen at www.susanavila.com
Awards
2014 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.